Current dry mixes used to prepare many instant beverages, especially instant flavored coffee beverages, typically comprise a mixture of non-dairy creamers, sweeteners, soluble beverage components (e.g. instant coffee products use soluble coffee) and flavors. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,962 (Stipp). Consumers usually prepare flavored instant beverages using, on average, 7.5% solids, and generally in the range of 5%-10% solids. Unfortunately, at a 5-10% dosage of solids, instant beverages prepared from current dry mixes are perceived as thin and watery and do not develop any foamy/frothy head. They also lack the creamy mouthfeel, richness, flavor impact and sweetness that is desired by consumers of such products.
Creamy beverages, generally, and creamy coffee beverages, in particular, typically rely on finely dispersed fat (i.e., homogenized fat) to deliver mouthfeel. This emulsified fat can be delivered by liquid or spray dried non-dairy creamers, whole milk, or low fat milk. However, the fat found at normal levels in current flavored coffee beverages provides insufficient mouthfeel benefits. These mouthfeel benefits can be improved by increasing the level of fat. However, increasing the level of fat creates other issues such as stability of the fat against oxidative reactions, the development of off-flavors, and the potential instability of the emulsion of the non-dairy creamer. Further, since non-dairy creamers typically contain only 35 to 50% fat, delivering increased mouthfeel can require significantly higher volumes or dosages of powdered products. This makes these powdered products less useful, for the consumer, as spoonable executions.
Typically, an instant beverage product contains a mechanical mixture of beverage solids (e.g., instant coffee particles), creamer base, sweetener base, and, if desired, flavorings. Unfortunately, the rate of solubility of these individual components differs, such that the desired ratios of the components do not completely dissolve. For example, the creamer base typically comprises a fatty component and is therefore hydrophobic. As a result, the creamer tends to dissolve less completely or less rapidly as compared to the other components. This, in turn, leaves aesthetically unappealing clumps of undissolved particles floating on the top of the beverage or as sediment in the bottom of the drinking vessel. This hydrophobic property is also characteristic of other fatty materials, such as chocolate, whole milk solids, whole cream solids and flavor oils, frequently included in instant beverage products, particularly flavored instant coffee beverages. Other problems associated with current instant beverage products, particularly flavored instant coffee beverages, include segregation of low and high density particles in the dry mix. Such segregation results in non-uniform ingredient composition between spoonfuls of dry product. This non-uniformity is particularly prevalent in products sweetened with an artificial sweetener.
While vigorous shaking and stirring of such an instant beverage solution may eventually result in a completely dissolved product, this is unsatisfactory for the consumer. The characterization of "instant" should connote ease of preparation, such as little to no stirring, yet result in a readily dissolved product.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for an instant beverage product, particularly a creamy, rich, flavored instant coffee product, that is readily and uniformly soluble. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an instant beverage product, particularly a flavored instant coffee product, that is more readily and uniformly soluble as compared to flavored instant coffee products wherein the creamer and sweetener components occur as individual particles in the dry product. It is a further object of this invention to provide a more dense product via agglomeration than results when using the steam agglomeration process described by Stipp in U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,962, realizing density achieved in agglomeration is formula dependent. The product made as described herein is more dense and allows the consumer to use less scoops or teaspoons of finished product, yet retains a creamy mouthfeel. It is a further object of this invention to provide a novel dissolution agent to be used in the binder solution used in the agglomeration process.